This invention generally relates to escape apparatus and more particularly to an improved descender apparatus for lowering a person from a height to a relatively lower height.
Recent trends have identified a need for an easy to use descender for rescuing persons from ships, residences and office buildings during emergencies. One trend is the desire to conserve valuable land by constructing larger, taller and densely populated commercial buildings. Upper floors of new buildings, such as office buildings, hospitals and hotels exceed the rescue capabilities of firemen""s equipment, such as nets and ladders. Another trend is the construction of new suburbs in which traditional fire fighting equipment is not readily available. Recent events have shown that traditional fire fighting equipment cannot fully evacuate many buildings during catastrophes, such as terrorist attacks, earthquakes and fires. The recent shift from large armies to small combat units has also identified a need for descenders for deploying troops from low flying helicopters.
There are a number of drawbacks with the descenders which exist in the art. Small descenders, used by professionals, such as firemen, tree trimmers, window washers and mountain climbers are relatively simple but require physical abilities, skill and training. Others are expensive, complex and difficult to use. Still others are difficult to store and are not portable.
With the foregoing drawbacks in mind, the present invention is a compact descender which is easy to use, easy to store and moderate in cost. One distinguishing feature of the invention is that a rope is stored inside of the descender. Another distinguishing feature is that a novel mounting system is provided for attaching the descender to a harness. Another distinguishing feature is a novel means for adjusting a rate of descent.
One benefit of the invention is that it is portable. This feature is important to professionals and sportsman such as firefighters, window trimmers, window washers and mountain climbers who must carry other equipment such as axes, gas masks, etc.
Another benefit of the invention is that it requires little, if any, training before it is used. Still yet another benefit is that it can be stored in existing spaces, such as desks, file cabinets, closets and bedroom dressers. Still yet another benefit is that it can be quickly placed in service.
The invention broadly comprises a generally cylindrical two part housing; a spool mounted for rotation inside of the housing, a rope stored on the spool; a friction core extending upwardly from an upper portion of the housing; a sleeve in surrounding relationship to the friction core; a means for adjusting a rate of descent and a means on a front part of the housing for attaching the descender to a restraint device, such as a body harness.
In employing the teaching of the present invention, a plurality of alternate constructions can be adopted to achieve the desired results and capabilities. In this disclosure, one embodiment is discussed. However, the disclosed embodiment is intended as an example only and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention.
Further features and benefits will be apparent by reference to the drawings and ensuing detailed description of a preferred embodiment which discloses the best mode contemplated in carrying out the invention. The exclusive rights which are claimed are set forth in the numbered claims following the detailed description of the preferred embodiment.